Artist Geertje van de Kamp (1986) won the Van Vlissingen Art Foundation Prize in 2020. Geertje travelled to Japan: the country known in equal measure for its visual explosion and the attentive, soothing rituals and origami.
Part of the Inspiration series, the book featuring her work entitled, Geertje van de Kamp in Japan, was written by Maarten Buser and published by Waanders. Geertje’s work was on display at Singer Laren between 3 November 2020 and 10 January 2021.
Geertje van de Kamp studied at the Academy of Art and Design in Amsterdam and is now an independent artist. After a period of thorough experimentation, Geertje discovered acrylic glass and began using the medium to create her works. In doing so, she left traditional substrates, such as canvas and panel, behind.
Through her chosen medium, Geertje plays with the work and the space around it, creating distance between the work and the wall wherein a shadow effect resides between the individual layers. This depth effect becomes visible when viewing the artworks from the side. The shadows and the various viewing angles are just as integral to the work as the object itself.
Geertje van de Kamp’s studio is in a location that many artists dream of: The Magdalena Monastery in Haarlem. This national monument serves as a cultural breeding ground for the Horizonvertical artists’ collective, of which Geertje is a member. Aside from the artist studio spaces, there is an exhibition space accessible to the public.
From paper stairs to origami, folded paper is an important source of inspiration for the Haarlem-based artist. Funnily enough, there is no paper involved in her artwork. Geertje works with harder materials: “I make paintings on acrylic glass with a strong focus on flat versus depth, both in the image and in the construction. Each work consists of two separate layers in front of one another, wherein the space in-between creates shadow effects.”
Considering her fascination with origami, the trip to the land of folding art was no surprise. In 2019, Geertje left for Japan and traveled through the country to be inspired by Japanese architecture, people and nature. The country known for its visual wonders, its attentive, soothing rituals and origami, was the perfect destination.
Just before her trip to Japan, Geertje had begun to feel that it was time to take a new step. The Japanese rituals, sense of peace and religious foundations integral to the society and culture were the main sources of inspiration for her new work. The challenge lay in creating a painting with as little information as possible— just enough to still produce an effect. This resulted in a series of works featuring complex origami, as well as a series wherein simplicity served the theme. What is striking about these paintings is that, for the first time, van de Kamp does not suggest a folding line through the use of different areas of color.
For almost a month Geertje immersed himself in the visually overwhelming country, where objectivity and spirituality go hand in hand, and in which a temple can be found at the foot of enormous skyscrapers.
In the book Geertje van de Kamp in Japan you follow Geertje’s journey and her painting process. The book elaborates on the journey and the insights Geertje gained, as well as on her personal development, such as the inspiration she drew from her confrontation with a visual stimulus explosion and from the soothing logic of origami. The central question being: what inspiration did she discover in this land of apparent contradictions?
Geertje van de Kamp studied at the Academy of Art and Design in Amsterdam and is now an independent artist. After a period of thorough experimentation, Geertje discovered acrylic glass and began using the medium to create her works. In doing so, she left traditional substrates, such as canvas and panel, behind.
Through her chosen medium, Geertje plays with the work and the space around it, creating distance between the work and the wall wherein a shadow effect resides between the individual layers. This depth effect becomes visible when viewing the artworks from the side. The shadows and the various viewing angles are just as integral to the work as the object itself.
Geertje van de Kamp’s studio is in a location that many artists dream of: The Magdalena Monastery in Haarlem. This national monument serves as a cultural breeding ground for the Horizonvertical artists’ collective, of which Geertje is a member. Aside from the artist studio spaces, there is an exhibition space accessible to the public.
From paper stairs to origami, folded paper is an important source of inspiration for the Haarlem-based artist. Funnily enough, there is no paper involved in her artwork. Geertje works with harder materials: “I make paintings on acrylic glass with a strong focus on flat versus depth, both in the image and in the construction. Each work consists of two separate layers in front of one another, wherein the space in-between creates shadow effects.”
Considering her fascination with origami, the trip to the land of folding art was no surprise. In 2019, Geertje left for Japan and traveled through the country to be inspired by Japanese architecture, people and nature. The country known for its visual wonders, its attentive, soothing rituals and origami, was the perfect destination.
Just before her trip to Japan, Geertje had begun to feel that it was time to take a new step. The Japanese rituals, sense of peace and religious foundations integral to the society and culture were the main sources of inspiration for her new work. The challenge lay in creating a painting with as little information as possible— just enough to still produce an effect. This resulted in a series of works featuring complex origami, as well as a series wherein simplicity served the theme. What is striking about these paintings is that, for the first time, van de Kamp does not suggest a folding line through the use of different areas of color.
For almost a month Geertje immersed himself in the visually overwhelming country, where objectivity and spirituality go hand in hand, and in which a temple can be found at the foot of enormous skyscrapers.
In the book Geertje van de Kamp in Japan you follow Geertje’s journey and her painting process. The book elaborates on the journey and the insights Geertje gained, as well as on her personal development, such as the inspiration she drew from her confrontation with a visual stimulus explosion and from the soothing logic of origami. The central question being: what inspiration did she discover in this land of apparent contradictions?
